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The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls provides unprecedented
insight into the nature of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament before
its fixation. Timothy Lim here presents a complete account of the
formation of the canon in Ancient Judaism from the emergence of the
Torah in the Persian period to the final acceptance of the list of
twenty-two/twenty-four books in the Rabbinic period. Using the
Hebrew Bible, the Scrolls, the Apocrypha, the Letter of Aristeas,
the writings of Philo, Josephus, the New Testament, and Rabbinic
literature as primary evidence he argues that throughout the
post-exilic period up to around 100 CE there was not one official
"canon" accepted by all Jews; rather, there existed a plurality of
collections of scriptures that were authoritative for different
communities. Examining the literary sources and historical
circumstances that led to the emergence of authoritative scriptures
in ancient Judaism, Lim proposes a theory of the majority canon
that posits that the Pharisaic canon became the canon of Rabbinic
Judaism in the centuries after the destruction of the Jerusalem
Temple.
In 1946 the first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries was made near
the site of Qumran, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. Despite
the much publicized delays in the publication and editing of the
Scrolls, practically all of them had been made public by the time
of the fiftieth anniversary of the first discovery. That occasion
was marked by a spate of major publications that attempted to sum
up the state of scholarship at the end of the twentieth century,
including The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (OUP 2000).
These publications produced an authoritative synthesis to which the
majority of scholars in the field subscribed, granted disagreements
in detail.
A decade or so later, The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls
has a different objective and character. It seeks to probe the main
disputed issues in the study of the Scrolls. Lively debate
continues over the archaeology and history of the site, the nature
and identity of the sect, and its relation to the broader world of
Second Temple Judaism and to later Jewish and Christian tradition.
It is the Handbook's intention here to reflect on diverse opinions
and viewpoints, highlight the points of disagreement, and point to
promising directions for future research.
Lim examines scriptural interpretations found in the scrolls excavated from the caves of Qumran, arguably the greatest manuscript discovery in Palestine of the twentieth century. What was the ancient interpreters' attitude to the biblical texts? Did they consider them `sacred' in the sense that the words were the inviolable utterances of God? Or did they when necessary modify and adapt holy writ for their own purposes? After fifty years of intensive research it must be asked just how these scrolls shaped the study of Bible interpretation in the Second Temple Period.
In 1946 the first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries was made near
the site of Qumran, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. Despite
the much publicized delays in the publication and editing of the
Scrolls, practically all of them had been made public by the time
of the fiftieth anniversary of the first discovery. That occasion
was marked by a spate of major publications that attempted to sum
up the state of scholarship at the end of the twentieth century,
including The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (OUP 2000).
These publications produced an authoritative synthesis to which the
majority of scholars in the field subscribed, granted disagreements
in detail.
A decade or so later, The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls
has a different objective and character. It seeks to probe the main
disputed issues in the study of the Scrolls. Lively debate
continues over the archaeology and history of the site, the nature
and identity of the sect, and its relation to the broader world of
Second Temple Judaism and to later Jewish and Christian tradition.
It is the Handbook's intention here to reflect on diverse opinions
and viewpoints, highlight the points of disagreement, and point to
promising directions for future research.
This is the first major commentary in English on Pesher Habakkuk
for forty years. It elucidates the nature of 1QpHab as the earliest
commentary on the prophecy of Habakkuk by a detailed study of the
biblical quotation and sectarian interpretation. This commentary
provides a new edition of the scroll, including new readings, and
detailed palaeographical, philological, exegetical and historical
notes and discussion. It shows that the pesherist imitates the
allusive style of the oracles of Habakkuk and also draws on
lexemes, phrases, and themes from other biblical texts and Jewish
sources. It shows that the pesherist identified the Kittim with the
Romans who conquered Judaea in 63 BCE, and suggests that the scroll
refers to several righteous and wicked figures, including the last
Hasmonean high priests.
Since their discovery in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have become an
icon in popular culture that transcends their status as ancient
Jewish manuscripts. Everyone has heard of the Scrolls, but amidst
the conspiracies, the politics, and the sensational claims, it can
be difficult to separate the myths from the reality. In this Very
Short introductions, Timothy Lim discusses the cultural
significance of the finds, and the religious, political and legal
controversies during the seventy years of study since the
discovery. He also looks at the contribution the Scrolls have made
to our understanding of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, and the
origins of early Christianity. Exploring the most recent scholarly
discussions on the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran, and the study of
the biblical texts, the canon, and the history of the Second Temple
Period, he considers what the scrolls reveal about sectarianism in
early Judaism. Was the archaeological site of Qumran a centre of
monastic life, a fortress, a villa, or a pottery factory? Why were
some of their biblical texts so different from the ones that we
read today? Did they have 'a Bible'? Who were the Essenes and why
did they think that humanity is to be divided between 'the sons of
light' and those in darkness? And, finally, do the Scrolls reflect
the teachings of the earliest followers of Jesus? ABOUT THE SERIES:
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press
contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These
pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new
subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis,
perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and
challenging topics highly readable.
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